Could This Be The Watchtower's Endgame?

by metatron 57 Replies latest jw friends

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  BONEZZ

  I fully agree with you Mr Flipper and if I might throw something else into the pot...

  Since the number of new converts is dwindling (at least in US) I believe they will create new things that will make the old members (the core group) feel special. I believe the "members only" Craptower is part of that. They may disseminate this "special", "members only" info via the CO's and DO's as they have done in the past so there is no written record of it. Special info could make it easier for the core group to handle the increased CONTROL and delay their ultimate discouragement.

  -BONEZZ
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  steve2

  Funny that, with the end so seemingly near, the Watchtower is engaging in a trend that looks suspiciously like a wind-down. The planned cutbacks in publications and meetings would have been totally unthinkable even ten years ago.

  Now, if I thought the men in charge had any active brain cells, I'd conclude something well-orchestrated was afoot. But, alas, the trend of recent years looks very much like an organization that doesn't know how to respond to the ever-increasing apathy among the rank and file.
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  oompa

  Might as well start earlier....paperback books and frikking paperback BIBLE!!! Then dubs get to litterally cut and paste an update on the Climax book...hilarious...........oompa

  yeah thats right....we had to cut out part of our CLIMAX!
• 

  WTWizard

  Something tells me that they are soon going to make a vicious effort to reclaim their property (that is, those people that have left) in the near future. Coupled with this plugging all the information leaks that the witlesses are exposed to, it's going to be one miserable trip for anyone that's in.

  Some theories I have seen include a hounding campaign, probably starting in early 2009. Hounders will be assigned those inactives that are in their former book study group to hound and round up while everyone else is in field circus. They are going to play on fears of the economy and worsening world conditions to get people back in. What they won't say is that conditions in the Washtowel Slaveholdery are deteriorating even faster, and are going to be even worse.

  No matter what, I have my own "Bible Study". That is, right here on this board. And they cannot censor the comments I see, nor can they censor the cross references I make.
• 

  golf2

  The WT society is a corporation, do you think for one moment that if Jesus was alive in this age and age he would form a corporation?
  
  
  Golf
• 

  integ

  You all know as well as I do that the WTS is not "crumbling" or dying or fading out or anything of the sort.

  Let's be real. I know most of you desperately want to see it all go down, but you all know in your heart of hearts, that the WTS will continue with it's basic teachings, service, assemblies, talks,etc. etc. for as long as we all are alive.

  There is absolutely no imminent demise of the tower. If anything, it's going to get stronger and keep adding members and keep changing beliefs that everybody will accept.

  I don't like being a buzzkill, but this is the reality.

  Any talk of the WTS going "down" in the next 50 years is wishful thinking.

  It used to be fun to speculate about the towers demise, but I've come to realize that they are way too strong and influential to EVER go down for the count.

  The only reason they are changing the book study is because of the reasons they have stated.

  Nobody important is losing the faith in Bethel.

  The society will adjust and continue to thrive for as long as we all live.

  There is no such thing as a Watchtower "end game".
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  neverendingjourney

  Folks, let’s not lose the forest for the trees here. The JWs have always been an apocalyptic religion with a prominent, definite drop-dead date. For decades they found ways to keep stretching it and delaying, but they’re out of answers now. Quite simply, all of their predictions have failed. JWs have always lived with a set date in mind, and now that date doesn’t exist. The religion, as we all know it, is DEAD. They HAVE to reinvent themselves somehow. They can either (1) reinvent their entire prophetic framework and start anew or (2) gradually drop the emphasis on end-times prophecy and go in a more mainstream direction. I don’t think there is a consensus among the GB leadership as to which direction they want to go in. I think that’s why we’re getting mixed signals. One day you have Losch giving a talk vilifying higher education and the next day you have a special announcement lightening the load for JWs by eliminating an entire meeting day from their schedule.

  Eventually, a consensus will develop at the governing body level, and the religion will take a definite turn in either of the two directions listed above. We’re in a trasitionary period right now. The religion has to change lest it atrophy under the weight of a crumbling prophetic structure. JWs cannot continue to live such self-sacrificing lifestyles without a definite date deadline for Armageddon’s arrival in the near future. What we’re seeing is the governing body trying different things, perhaps struggling to figure out which way to steer the boat, if you will. Within the next few years it’ll be clear which direction JW leadership has decided to take the religion in. For now, we’re going to continue to see mixed messages from the leadership. They’re going to keep trying new things until they find something that works.
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  Hortensia

  Ninja, that was one of your best! As for the WTBTS, who gives a damn? Just another money-grubbing religion, controlling people for their own purposes. I don't much care what happens to it, but it would be rather fun to watch if for instance, the US government made them pay back a lot of decades of SS payments, worker's compensation payments, disability, etc. It would be fun if there was a fight to the death among the GB members for control. It would be neat if a whole lot of JWs just lost interest and took up crafting instead. It would be fun if local congregations rebelled and took back control from the "mother." It would be interesting if there was a huge sex scandal on a luxury yacht somewhere with a bunch of GB members. What if Jaracz got booted, saw the light and wrote a book like "Crisis of Conscience?" What if there was a schism in NY and the New Jehovah's Witnesses GB sued the First JWs GB? What if there's really a meth lab in the laundry at headquarters?
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  integ

  neverendingjourney,

  That was an excellent post.

  They WILL re-invent themselves and EVERYBODY will buy into WHATEVER the WTS says, and they will pass it on the tradition of watchtower worship to their succeeding generations ad infinitum.

  They'll figure it out and everything is going to be fine with the watchtower.
• 

  neverendingjourney

  I tend to agree with you, Integ. However, there are a few scenarios out there that could quickly and drastically change the Watchtower as we know it. For instance, there might be some internal coup, some infighting that leads to a schism in the religion. A few deluded high-ranking Bethelites, perhaps with legal control over the organization’s finances, could begin to think that Jehovah appointed them to save the organization from the governing body. If that were to happen, the religious organization that emerges may not resemble the one that exists today. Lawsuits or governmental sanctions could also cripple them and leave them in ruins. There is also a possibility that the men running the WT might run off with as much money as they can. Granted, these are all outlandish scenarios which are very unlikely to ever occur, but similar things have happened before with other religions, just take a look at the Worldwide Church of God.

  However, the far more likely scenario is that a religious organization calling itself Jehovah’s Witnesses will continue to exist well into the future. They will do as any big business does when they become stagnant: innovate. For example, when I was a kid, IBM was known for producing typewriters. When the personal computer began to take over the market they didn’t simply wilt away and die. They got into the PC market. They innovated, changed with the times. The WT has been doing that since its inception and they will continue to do so.

  The relevant question isn’t whether the Watchtower will be around 50 years from now (they almost certainly will be), but rather what the religion will look like then. Nobody knows the answer to that, of course, but the religion will most likely be very different. I don’t waste my time looking for that one thing that will instantly bring an end to the religion. My interest is in seeing how and in what ways the religion continues to evolve. My hope is that they go in a mainstream direction, for the sake of my JW family.